This article is from page 6 of the 2008-05-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A DIALYSIS unit for the mid-west has met yet another hurdle as an anonymous objector has opposed planning permission being granted to the new facility.
According to the Irish Kidney As- sociation (IKA), the unit would al- leviate the stress now suffered by patients forced to travel outside the mid-west for the life saving dialysis treatment.
Between 16 and 20 patients travel from the Limerick, Clare and Tip- perary area to Galway three times a
week for essential dialysis.
Eight patients from Clare make their way to the commercial unit in Ballybritt every week, while 16 at- tend the Mid Western Regional Hos- pital Limerick, which is now running at capacity.
There are currently 17 people in the mid-west on the waiting list for COU ASISE
Treasurer of the Clare branch of the IKA, Peggy Eustace said that the kidney support group offered the HSE the prefab it has used for dialy- sis in Tullamore to use in Limerick until it had upgraded the unit at the
regional hospital as promised.
The HSE refused this offer, she said and so Clare patients are now relying on the unit proposed for the River- side Retail Park on the Dock Road in Limerick.
In a letter dated April 24, an objec- tion to the proposal by the commer- cial company Fresenius Medical Care (Ireland) Limited was revived from a Mallow based solicitors’ company representing Hookford Limited.
Hookford Limited main activity is registered aS management activities of holding companies.
The objection is made up of three
main parts including concerns about site suitability.
The objection states that the site contains a number of retail units and “the medical usage of this site is not appropriate and would not be in ac- cordance with good planning”.
The objection also stated that the proposed facility would be best co- located on a health care campus or on an individual dedicated site.
The objectors pointed out that the sewer facilities for the existing devel- opment on the site are inadequate.
The IKA said it was “saddened” by the objection.
The support group has concerns that following a further six weeks delay due to the objection, that an appeal of a planning decision to An Board Pleanala would end the pros- pects of these patients returning to Limerick for dialysis for at least an- other year.
In a statement the Irish Kidney A ssociation said: “There are three other Dialysis Units in the country not on a hospital campus and they did not object to their planning ap- plications.”
It asked Hookford Limited to with- draw its objection.